Let’s all take Instagram out of picture

IF A tree falls in the forest and no one is there to Instagram it, did it really fall at all? That is the great philosophical conundrum of the 21st century, when every special moment is snapped, edited in a flattering light, and posted to social media. Enough, says concert designer LeRoy Bennett, who is backing a ban on smartphones at gigs. Bennett, who’s worked with stars such as Madonna and Paul McCartney, is irritated by fans taking pictures of the stage and capturing it from a bad angle. The artists get upset, he said, and presumably he gets it in the neck as a result.

That’s one objection; but taking photos of everything all the time is just annoying in itself. Obviously, like every other modern malaise, millennials are the worst culprits: driving through Sandymount at rush hour the other day, the young woman in front of me stopped suddenly, causing me to swerve. She put her hazard lights on, then skipped through the traffic to point her phone across Dublin Bay, just to take a photo of the morning sunlight.

Sure, Dún Laoghaire did look pretty, shimmering in the white glow, but was it really worth all that just for a picture?

Having said that, the thing about all this Instagramming is that it’s contagious. If everyone around you is taking photos, it feels rude not to join in, like you’re too cool to be enthusiastic. As I walked along the seafront later, I spotted a swan far out on the dazzling blue water, and my first instinct was to reach for my phone and take a photo so that I could show my husband. Not being a millennial, however, it took me ages to locate the camera app, by which time the swan had drifted off out of sight.

I’m with LeRoy: let’s ban Instagram, at least for those of us who are too old to use it.